Method and system for using conversational biometrics and speaker identification/verification to filter voice streams

ABSTRACT

A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code having programming instructions tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium. The programming instructions are operable to receive an audio stream of a communication between a plurality of participants. Additionally, the programming instructions are operable to filter the audio stream of the communication into separate audio streams, one for each of the plurality of participants, wherein each of the separate audio streams contains portions of the communication attributable to a respective participant of the plurality of participants. Furthermore, the programming instructions are operable to output the separate audio streams to a storage system.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to conversational biometrics andspeaker identification and/or verification, and more particularly, to amethod and system for using conversational biometrics and speakeridentification and/or verification to filter voice streams during mixedmode communication.

BACKGROUND

The feature set provided by quality assurance call recording/qualitymonitoring solutions are diverse. For example, they include recordingcalls, scraping desktops and storing these in an archival mechanism forbusiness intelligence.

In general, a quality assurance (QA) system records all parties involvedin a certain transaction. For example, consider the scenario where acustomer calls into an interactive voice response (IVR) system, respondsto IVR prompts and then opts out to an agent. With this exemplaryscenario, the QA system will record all three parties, i.e., the IVRprompts, the customer and the agent. In addition, the QA system willalso record any conversations that the agent may have to fully resolve acustomer issue. For example, one such conversation to be recorded by theQA system may be the agent consulting with a manager, while the agentplaces the customer on hold. The data collected and/or recorded isstored and passed, for example, to a statistical business analysismodule to extract relevant information.

However, the drawback of this conventional approach is that data isrecorded as a whole entity. That is, the recording system does notdistinguish between the caller, the IVR and/or the agent(s) who handlethe transaction. As a result, the data is not filtered based uponspeaker and there is some level of manual intervention required when thedata is analyzed for content.

Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficienciesand limitations described hereinabove.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the invention, a method is implemented in acomputer infrastructure having computer executable code tangiblyembodied on a computer readable medium having programming instructions.The programming instructions are operable to receive an audio stream ofa communication between a plurality of participants. Additionally, theprogramming instructions are operable to filter the audio stream of thecommunication into separate audio streams, one for each of the pluralityof participants, wherein each of the separate audio streams containsportions of the communication attributable to a respective participantof the plurality of participants. Furthermore, the programminginstructions are operable to output the separate audio streams to astorage system.

In another aspect of the invention, a system comprises a conversationalbiometric analysis and speaker identification-verification (CB/SIV) tooloperable to receive an audio stream of a communication between aplurality of participants. Further, the CB/SIV tool is operable toperform an identification process. Additionally, the CB/SIV tool isoperable to filter the audio stream of the communication into separateaudio streams, one for each of the plurality of participants, whereineach of the separate audio streams contains portions of thecommunication attributable to a respective participant of the pluralityof participants.

In an additional aspect of the invention, a computer program productcomprising a computer usable storage medium having readable program codeembodied in the medium is provided. The computer program productincludes at least one component operable to filter an audio stream of acommunication into separate audio streams, one for each of a pluralityof participants, wherein each of the separate audio streams containsportions of the communication attributable to a respective participantof the plurality of participants by matching the portions of thecommunication attributable to the respective participant using a voiceprint for the respective participant and assigning the portions of thecommunication attributable to the respective participant to the separateaudio stream for the respective participant.

In a further aspect of the invention, a method comprises providing acomputer infrastructure operable to receive an audio stream of acommunication between a plurality of participants. Additionally, thecomputer infrastructure is operable to filter the audio stream of thecommunication into separate audio streams, one for each of the pluralityof participants, wherein each of the separate audio streams containsportions of the communication attributable to a respective participantof the plurality of participants. Furthermore, the computerinfrastructure is operable to output the separate audio streams to astorage system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described in the detailed description whichfollows, in reference to the noted plurality of drawings by way ofnon-limiting examples of exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative environment for implementing the steps inaccordance with the invention; and

FIGS. 2-4 show exemplary flows for practicing aspects of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention generally relates to conversational biometrics andspeaker identification and/or verification, and more particularly, to amethod and system for using conversational biometrics and speakeridentification and/or verification to filter voice streams during mixedmode communication. By implementing the present invention, the recordingsystem will distinguish between different participants of theconversation, e.g., between the caller, the IVR and/or the agent(s) whohandle the transaction. As a result, the data is filtered based uponspeaker identification and the level of manual intervention is minimizedwhen the data is subsequently analyzed for content.

System Environment

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventionmay be embodied as a system, method or computer program product.Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects that may all generally bereferred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore,the present invention may take the form of a computer program productembodied in any tangible medium of expression having computer-usableprogram code embodied in the medium.

Any combination of one or more computer usable or computer readablemedium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustivelist) of the computer-readable medium would include the following:

-   -   an electrical connection having one or more wires,    -   a portable computer diskette,    -   a hard disk,    -   a random access memory (RAM),    -   a read-only memory (ROM),    -   an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash        memory),    -   an optical fiber,    -   a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM),    -   an optical storage device,    -   a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an        intranet, or a magnetic storage device.

The computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper oranother suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as theprogram can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory.

In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate,propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with theinstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer-usablemedium may include a propagated data signal with the computer-usableprogram code embodied therewith, either in baseband or as part of acarrier wave. The computer usable program code may be transmitted usingany appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline,optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in any combination of one or more programminglanguages, including an object oriented programming language such asJava, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer,partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partlyon the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely onthe remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remotecomputer may be connected to the user's computer through any type ofnetwork. This may include, for example, a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative environment 10 for managing the processesin accordance with the invention. To this extent, the environment 10includes a server or other computing system 12 that can perform theprocesses described herein. In particular, the server 12 includes acomputing device 14. The computing device 14 can be resident on anetwork infrastructure or computing device of a third party serviceprovider (any of which is generally represented in FIG. 1).

The computing device 14 includes a conversational biometrics analysisand speaker identification-verification (CB/SIV) tool 30. The CB/SIVtool 30 is operable to receive seed phrases and store the seed phrasesas voice prints, perform speaker verification and/or speakeridentification using the voice prints, and filter a signal into separatevoice streams for each participant in a conversation, e.g., theprocesses described herein. The CB/SIV tool 30 can be implemented as oneor more program code in the program control 44 stored in memory 22A asseparate or combined modules.

The computing device 14 also includes a processor 20, memory 22A, an I/Ointerface 24, and a bus 26. The memory 22A can include local memoryemployed during actual execution of program code, bulk storage, andcache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some programcode in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved frombulk storage during execution. In addition, the computing deviceincludes random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), and aCPU.

The computing device 14 is in communication with the external I/Odevice/resource 28 and the storage system 22B. For example, the I/Odevice 28 can comprise any device that enables an individual to interactwith the computing device 14 or any device that enables the computingdevice 14 to communicate with one or more other computing devices usingany type of communications link. The external I/O device/resource 28 maybe for example, a handheld device, PDA, handset, keyboard etc.

In general, the processor 20 executes computer program code (e.g.,program control 44), which can be stored in the memory 22A and/orstorage system 22B. Moreover, in accordance with aspects of theinvention, the program control 44 having program code controls theCB/SIV tool 30. While executing the computer program code, the processor20 can read and/or write data to/from memory 22A, storage system 22B,and/or I/O interface 24. The program code executes the processes of theinvention. The bus 26 provides a communications link between each of thecomponents in the computing device 14.

The computing device 14 can comprise any general purpose computingarticle of manufacture capable of executing computer program codeinstalled thereon (e.g., a personal computer, server, etc.). However, itis understood that the computing device 14 is only representative ofvarious possible equivalent-computing devices that may perform theprocesses described herein. To this extent, in embodiments, thefunctionality provided by the computing device 14 can be implemented bya computing article of manufacture that includes any combination ofgeneral and/or specific purpose hardware and/or computer program code.In each embodiment, the program code and hardware can be created usingstandard programming and engineering techniques, respectively.

Similarly, the computing infrastructure 12 is only illustrative ofvarious types of computer infrastructures for implementing theinvention. For example, in embodiments, the server 12 comprises two ormore computing devices (e.g., a server cluster) that communicate overany type of communications link, such as a network, a shared memory, orthe like, to perform the process described herein. Further, whileperforming the processes described herein, one or more computing deviceson the server 12 can communicate with one or more other computingdevices external to the server 12 using any type of communications link.The communications link can comprise any combination of wired and/orwireless links; any combination of one or more types of networks (e.g.,the Internet, a wide area network, a local area network, a virtualprivate network, etc.); and/or utilize any combination of transmissiontechniques and protocols.

In embodiments, the invention provides a business method that performsthe steps of the invention on a subscription, advertising, and/or feebasis. That is, a service provider, such as a Solution Integrator, couldoffer to perform the processes described herein. In this case, theservice provider can create, maintain, deploy, support, etc., thecomputer infrastructure that performs the process steps of the inventionfor one or more customers. These customers may be, for example, anybusiness that uses technology. In return, the service provider canreceive payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or feeagreement and/or the service provider can receive payment from the saleof advertising content to one or more third parties.

CB/SIV Tool

In accordance with aspects of the invention, a conversational biometricsanalysis engine and a speaker identification-verification engine can becombined in a CB/SIV tool 30 and placed along with other servercomponents to further aid in recording and caller verification and/oridentification. However, it should be understood that the conversationalbiometrics analysis engine and the speaker identification-verificationengine of the CB/SIV tool 30 may be separate components. The CB/SIV tool30 can provide speaker verification and/or speaker identification. Inembodiments, the CB/SIV tool 30 may first perform a speakeridentification process to create a list of “best matches” and thenperform a series of verification processes to determine a conclusivematch.

More specifically, the CB/SIV tool 30 has two phases: an enrollmentphase and a verification and/or identification phase. During theenrollment phase, the speaker's voice is recorded and, for example, anumber of features are extracted to form a uniquely identifiable voiceprint, template, or model. Moreover, as described below, in theverification phase, a speech sample or “utterance” is compared againstthe previously created voice print. In contrast to the verificationphase, which compares an utterance against a single voice print, theidentification phase compares the utterance against multiple voiceprints in order to determine the best match(es). As should beunderstood, because of the process involved, a verification process maybe a faster than an identification process.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, the capture of thebiometric, e.g., voice print, may be non-invasive. More specifically, inembodiments, the CB/SIV tool 30 may use existing microphones and voicetransmission technology, e.g., telephones, allowing recognition overlong distances via ordinary telephones (e.g., wired or wireless).

According to further aspects of the invention, during call recording(regular transaction progression), the CB/SIV tool 30 is operable todynamically filter a voice (e.g., a customer) from a set of voicesinvolved in a transaction (e.g., the customer, an operator(s) and theIVR system), authenticate the voice and allow a user to take actionsbased upon the result of that authentication.

In accordance with additional aspects of the invention, the CB/SIV tool30 is operable to dynamically filter the contents of a mixed input ofvoices into individual voice streams for each party of a conversation.More specifically, the CB/SIV tool 30 uniquely identifies the variousvoice sources, filters out the voices as separate streams and stores theseparate streams, e.g., in storage system 22B of FIG. 1. Furthermore, inembodiments, the resulting separated voice streams may then be passedover to a rules engine for further processing.

It should be understood that there is a difference betweenauthentication (commonly referred to as speaker verification or speakerauthentication) and identification. Speaker verification (orauthentication) is the computing task of validating a user's claimedidentity using characteristics extracted from their voices. If thespeaker claims to be of a certain identity and the voice is used toverify this claim this is called verification or authentication. In asense, speaker verification is a 1:1 match where one speaker's voice ismatched to one template (also called a “voice print” or “voice model”).Speaker verification is usually employed as a “gatekeeper” in order toprovide access, for example, to a secure system (e.g., telephonebanking). These systems may operate with the user's knowledge andtypically require the user's cooperation. More specifically, forexample, verification authenticates a user in conjunction with, forexample, an identified previously stored template, e.g., a voice print.Illustratively, a biometric sample is captured and compared with theidentified template, e.g., voice print, of the user, for example, storedin a database to verify the user. That is, the identified previouslystored template is compared to the sampled voice stream in a 1:1 match.In embodiments, the particular identified template used to verify a usermay be identified by, for example, a smart card, a usernames and/or anID number.

In contrast, speaker identification authenticates its users from abiometric characteristic alone without the use of smart cards, usernamesor ID numbers. For speaker identification, the biometric sample iscompared to all records within the database and a closest match score isreturned. The closest match within the allowed threshold is deemed theindividual and authenticated. Thus, identification is the task ofdetermining an unknown speaker's identity, such that speakeridentification is a 1:N match where the voice is compared against Ntemplates. Speaker identification systems can also be implementedcovertly without the user's knowledge to identify talkers in adiscussion, alert automated systems of speaker changes, check if a useris already enrolled in a system, etc.

From a security perspective, identification is also different fromverification. For example, presenting your passport at border control isa verification process; the agent compares your face to the picture inthe document. Conversely, a police officer comparing a sketch of anassailant against a database of previously documented criminals to findthe closest match(es) is an identification process.

In performing the identification process and the separation of the voicestream into separate voice streams, the CB/SIV tool 30 need not compareeach sampled voice of an ongoing conversation with all voice prints in adatabase, e.g., a 1-to-N comparison. Instead, once the CB/SIV tool 30identifies the parties (for example, three parties) to a conversationusing the voice prints using, e.g., a 1-to-N comparison, the CB/SIV tool30 is aware that any subsequently recorded voice for the givenconversation is one of those three identified voices. As such,subsequent to an initial identification of the parties of aconversation, the CB/SIV tool 30 compares a particular voice stream withthe three corresponding voice prints using, e.g., a 1-to-3 comparison.

Furthermore, in accordance with aspects of the invention, the CB/SIVtool 30 may additionally utilize origin of voice detection to perform oraid in the separation of a signal into its separate voice streams. Asshould be understood, origin of voice detection can determine the sourceof a voice, e.g., an internal line versus an external line. Thus, theCB/SIV tool 30 may utilize origin of voice detection to perform or aidin the separation of a signal into its separate voice streams.

Moreover, in accordance with further aspects of the invention, thepresent invention may include separate databases for separate players ina conversation. For example, with a call center scenario, discussedfurther below, the system may include separate databases for agents,IVRs and customers. Moreover, with a medical professional's officescenario, discussed further below, the system may include separatedatabases for medical professionals and patients. That is, inembodiments, voice prints for agents (or medical professionals) may bestored in an agent database and voice prints for callers (e.g.,customers or patients) may be stored in a separate caller database (eachof which may be stored in storage system 22B of FIG. 1). Using theseparate databases may assist in performing a voice identificationand/or verification. For example, in performing an initialidentification (e.g., a 1-to-N matching), if the CB/SIV tool 30 is awarethat the particular voice is an agent (e.g., using the above-describedorigin of voice detection), the CB/SIV tool 30 may access an agent voiceprint database to identify the agent. Moreover, by using the agent voiceprint database, the number N may be reduced (as the database onlycontains agent voice prints), and thus the identification process may beperformed more quickly.

The CB/SIV tool 30 may utilize various technologies to process andanalyze voice prints. For example, in embodiments, the CB/SIV tool 30may utilize frequency estimation, hidden Markov models, Gaussian mixturemodels, pattern matching methodologies, neural networks, matrixrepresentation and decision trees, amongst other technologies.

Moreover, the CB/SIV tool 30 may utilize, for example, the acousticfeatures of speech that have been found to differ between individuals.It should be understood that a speaker's voice is a physiological traitand a behavioral trait. A voice may be classified as a physiologicaltrait, as acoustic patterns reflect anatomy (e.g., size and shape of thethroat and mouth, amongst other anatomic features) of a speaker, causingfor example, a particular pitch. On the other hand, in embodiments, avoice may be classified as behavioral trait based on the study of theway a person speaks, for example, learned behavioral patterns (e.g.,voice pitch, speaking style, amongst other learned behavioral patterns).

In embodiments, the CB/SIV tool 30 may employ noise reductionmethodologies to improve accuracy. This is because ambient noise levelscan impede both collection of the initial and subsequent voice samples.However, performance degradation can result from, for example, changesin behavioral attributes of the voice and from enrollment using onetelephone and verification on another telephone (“cross channel”). Forexample, voice changes due to, e.g., aging may impact system performanceover time. Thus, in embodiments, the CB/SIV tool 30 may adapt thespeaker models after each successful verification to capture suchlong-term changes in the voice.

In embodiments, the CB/SIV tool 30 may be a text-dependent system ortext-independent system. With a text-dependent recognition, the text ofthe speech sample should be the same for the enrollment phase and theverification phase. Moreover, with a text-dependent system, prompts caneither be common across all speakers (e.g., a common pass phrase) orunique. In addition, the use of shared-secrets (e.g., passwords andPINs) or knowledge-based information can be employed in order to createa multi-factor authentication scenario.

In contrast, text-independent systems are most often used for speakeridentification as they require very little, if any, cooperation by thespeaker. With text-independent systems, the text of the speech sampleduring the enrollment phase and identification phase may be different.In embodiments, the enrollment phase may occur without the user'sknowledge. That is, in embodiments, the CB/SIV tool 30 may sample andstore a voice print of the speaker without the speaker's awareness ofthe CB/SIV tool 30 action.

First Time/Enrollment Interaction

According to aspects of the invention, when a user first interacts withthe system, the CB/SIV tool 30 records a seed phrase or firstimpression. The CB/SIV tool 30 uses the seed phrase or first impressionto create a voice print for later identifying this particular user.Moreover, the first interaction is conducted under isolation. That is,the first interaction includes only one user interacting with oneinstance of the system. Thus, the system can capture an accurate voiceprint of a single user.

Moreover, it should be understood that, in embodiments, once a userenrolls with the present invention, e.g., by speaking the seed phrase,the user need not re-enroll on a subsequent phone call to the samesystem. That is, in embodiments, the system of the present invention mayuse a previously stored voice print of a user to perform verificationand/or identification.

Contact Center Scenario

In embodiments, the system of the present invention may be used in acontact or call center environment. According to aspects of theinvention, a caller, e.g., a customer, calls into a call center and theCB/SIV tool 30 prompts the caller to speak a seed phrase. The seedphrase is stored by the system as a voice print, for example, in storagesystem 22B of FIG. 1. Moreover, the voice print is passed to the CB/SIVtool 30, which uses the voice print to uniquely identify and/or verifythe caller, as described further below.

The call/transaction is routed, e.g., by the IVR system, to an agent whomay attempt to assist the customer. This may happen the first time thecaller calls the call center or the N^(th) time. Moreover, during aconversation with the agent, the agent can use the CB/SIV tool 30 totrigger a biometric verification of the caller. For example, once thevoice is analyzed, the CB/SIV tool 30 prompts the agent if there is aperfect match between the customer voice print and the currentlyreceived customer voice stream. In embodiments, if there is a match, theagent may then carry out the remainder of the transaction. If there isnot a match, the agent may take appropriate action, such as, forexample, reporting the mismatch between the caller's claimed identityand the caller's real identity.

Additionally, the CB/SIV tool 30 samples the caller's voice and comparesit dynamically against a voice print database to filter the caller'svoice from that of the agent (and any other parties to theconversation). In embodiments, this may happen completely transparent tothe caller. Moreover, as explained above, once the CB/SIV tool 30 isaware of all of the parties to a conversation, the CB/SIV tool 30 mayonly need to compare a received voice stream against the voice prints ofthe identified parties to the conversation. Moreover, if the CB/SIV tool30 detects a voice stream that cannot be matched to one of theidentified parties to the conversation, in embodiments, the CB/SIV tool30 may then compare the unmatchable voice stream to all voice prints inthe storage system. It should be understood that, in embodiments, thisidentification may occur in real time. Additionally, in embodiments, theCB/SIV tool 30 is dynamic, i.e., the caller need not speak into itseparately.

According to further aspects of the invention, as an exception handlingrouting, in embodiments, the CB/SIV tool 30 is able to handle barge-ins.That is, for example, if the caller and the agent are both talkingsimultaneously or they are “barging” over each others' voices, theCB/SIV tool 30 can distinguish each individual speaker and separate outthe different speakers into different streams.

Medical Transcription Scenario

As a further example of utilization of the present invention, considermedical transcription, which is a very manual process. That is,conventionally, a medical professional's office typically sends outfeeds to an organization providing transcript services. Thisorganization then listens (e.g., relying on human ears) throughrecordings between the medical professional and patient and preparestranscripts.

However, this process can be completely automated using the presentinvention. For example, medical professionals in a given practice mayenroll themselves to the CB/SIV tool 30. More specifically, the medicalprofessionals may speak a seed phrase for a voice print, which is storedin a database, e.g., storage system 22B (shown in FIG. 1) and which isused by the CB/SIV tool 30 to identify the medical professionals as the‘medical professional’ (as opposed to, for example, patients and/ornurses). Additionally, in embodiments, the patient may speak a seedphrase for a voice print, which is stored in a database, e.g., storagesystem 22B (shown in FIG. 1), and which is used by the CB/SIV tool 30 toidentify the patient as the ‘patient.’ Furthermore, as explained above,in embodiments, the patient may only need to speak the seed phrase onceto be properly enrolled in the system. Thus, with subsequent visits tothe medical professional's office, the patient need not be re-enrolledin the system of the present invention. However, the inventioncontemplates that the patient's seed phrase may be received with eachvisit to the medical professional's office.

Furthermore, the invention contemplates that the medical professionaland the patient may be the only two parties to a conversation beingrecorded. As such, in embodiments, it may be necessary for only themedical professional to speak the seed phrase for creating respectivevoice prints. That is, the CB/SIV tool 30 is operable to filter out thepatient's voice through a process of elimination, by ascertaining thatthe recorded voice is not the medical professional's voice using themedical professional's stored voice print.

In this implementation, any patient interaction that takes place usingspeech and/or dialog is recorded, e.g., by a recording system placed inthe medical professional's office. Furthermore, this recording is passedover, in embodiments, either dynamically (e.g., in real time) or in abatch (e.g., at the end of an appointment or the end of a day) to theCB/SIV tool 30. Furthermore, the CB/SIV tool 30 is operable to filterthe contents of the recording, uniquely identifying the medicalprofessional and the patient and store each voice samples, for example,in a database, e.g., storage system 22B (shown in FIG. 1).

In embodiments, the stored voice samples may be time-stamped andbusiness rules may be applied to them. For example, the voice samplescan be passed through a speech-to-text filter to convert the speech totext and archived in an archival medium, as may be legally required. Byimplementing the present invention in the medical professional's officeenvironment, the need for a medical professional to perform an isolateddictation in a recorder for a transcription agent to create text outputmay be eliminated or minimized.

Flow Diagrams

FIGS. 2-4 show exemplary flows for performing aspects of the presentinvention. The steps of FIGS. 2-4 may be implemented in the environmentof FIG. 1, for example. The flow diagrams may equally represent ahigh-level block diagrams of the invention. The flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams in FIGS. 2-4 illustrate the architecture, functionality, andoperation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computerprogram products according to various embodiments of the presentinvention. In this regard, each block in the flowcharts or blockdiagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, whichcomprises one or more executable instructions for implementing thespecified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in somealternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occurout of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown insuccession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or theblocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending uponthe functionality involved. Each block of each flowchart, andcombinations of the flowchart illustrations can be implemented byspecial purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware andcomputer instructions and/or software, as described above. Moreover, thesteps of the flow diagrams may be implemented and executed from either aserver, in a client server relationship, or they may run on a userworkstation with operative information conveyed to the user workstation.In an embodiment, the software elements include firmware, residentsoftware, microcode, etc.

Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer programproduct accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable mediumproviding program code for use by or in connection with a computer orany instruction execution system. The software and/or computer programproduct can be implemented in the environment of FIG. 1. For thepurposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readablemedium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate,propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with theinstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The medium can be anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium.Examples of a computer-readable storage medium include a semiconductoror solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magneticdisk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks includecompact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disc-read/write (CD-R/W)and DVD.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary flow diagram 200 illustrating the utilizationof the CB/SIV tool 30 in combination with other elements of the systemof the present invention. As described above, the CB/SIV tool 30 isoperable to perform an enrollment process and a verification and/oridentification process. During the enrollment process, the CB/SIV tool30 collects biometric information from an individual, e.g., a voicesample, and stores the voice sample as a voice print in a database,e.g., storage system 22B. During the verification and/or identificationprocess, biometric information, e.g., a voice, is detected and comparedwith the stored voice prints.

As shown in FIG. 2, at step 205, a sensor interfaces between the realworld and the system of the present invention. In embodiments, thesensor, e.g., a microphone, acquires biometric data. At step 210, apre-processor (which may be embodied in the computer infrastructure 12of FIG. 1) removes artifacts from the signal received by the sensor, toenhance the input (e.g., removing background noise, performingnormalization, etc.) and sends this signal to the CB/SIV tool 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, with this exemplary arrangement, three processes areperformed by the CB/SIV tool 30 including, at step 215, a featureextracting process, at step 220, a template generating process and, atstep 230, a matching process. More specifically, at step 215, thefeature extracting process extracts features from the signal, e.g., avoice stream. At step 220, the template generation process generates atemplate (e.g., a voice print) using the signal, e.g., voice stream. Thetemplate is a synthesis of all the characteristics extracted from thesource, in an optimal size to allow for adequate identifiability.

If enrollment is being performed, at step 225, the template, e.g., voiceprint, is stored. In embodiments, the templates may be stored, forexample, in a database, e.g., storage system 22B (shown in FIG. 1). If averification and/or identification process is being performed, at step230, the obtained template is passed to a matcher, which compares thetemplate, e.g., voice print, with other existing templates in thedatabase, e.g., voice prints, estimating the distance between them usinga matching methodology (e.g., Hamming distance). Moreover, at step 230,the matcher compares the incoming signal with the templates, e.g., voiceprints, stored in the storage system to identify or verify a particularuser. At step 235, the output of the matching is sent to anapplication/device for any specified use or purpose. For example, in acall center environment, discussed above, the output may be used tocreate a record of a telephone conversation with separated voice streamsfor each participant in the telephone conversation. As a furtherexample, in a medical professional office environment, discussed above,the output may be used to create a record of a patient's visit to amedical professional's office (e.g., a doctor's office), with separatedvoice streams for each participant (e.g., patient and medicalprofessional, amongst other participants) in a medical professionaloffice conversation.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary flow 300 for utilizing the present inventionin a call center environment. At step 305, agent and IVR seed phrasesare stored in a storage system and sent to the CB/SIV tool. It should beunderstood that, in embodiments, the collection and storage of the agentand IVR seed phrases may be performed at any time prior to a call beingreceived by the call center. Moreover, the collection of agent and IVRseed phrases may be performed only once. That is, with each new call,agent and IVR seed phrases need not be collected again. Rather, once theagent and IVR seed phrases are collected, they may be accessed for anyfuture call center conversation with a caller.

Furthermore, in embodiments, the invention contemplates that othersystems may be used to identify the IVR and/or agent portions of aconversation without using a matching methodology. For example, inembodiments, the present invention may be configured to determine anorigin of a voice stream and filter based, in part, on the origin of thevoice stream. As such, in embodiments, IVR seed phrases and/or agentseed phrases may not need to be collected.

At step 310, a caller calls into an interactive voice response (IVR)based identification and enrollment system of a call center. At step315, the IVR system prompts the caller to speak a seed phrase. It shouldbe understood that, in embodiments, this prompting for a seed phrase maybe unknown to the caller. At step 320, the seed phrase is stored in astorage system, e.g., storage system 22B (shown in FIG. 1), and the seedphrase is sent to the CB/SIV tool.

At step 325, the call is routed to an agent. At step 340, adetermination is made (e.g., by the agent) as to whether to performcaller verification. If, at step 340, a determination is made to performcaller verification, at step 345, the agent utilizes the CB/SIV tool toverify the caller by comparing the callers voice to the seed phrasevoice print stored in the storage system. At step 350, the CB/SIV tooldetermines if the caller has been verified. If, at step 350, the callerwas not verified, the process proceeds to step 355, where the agenttakes appropriate action. For example, upon determining that the calleris not verified, the agent may drop the call, report the call and/orre-perform the verification, amongst other appropriate actions.

If, at step 340, a determination is made to not perform callerverification, or, at step 350, the caller is verified, the processproceeds to step 360. At step 360, the CB/SIV tool monitors the call andperforms voice identification to filter the signal into separate voicestreams for each participant in the call. At step 365, the CB/SIV toolstores the separate streams in a storage system, e.g., storage system22B (of FIG. 1).

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary flow 400 for utilizing the present inventionin a medical environment. At step 405, a medical professional's (e.g., adoctor's) seed phrase is stored in a storage system (e.g., storagesystem 22B of FIG. 1) as voice print and sent to the CB/SIV tool.Additionally, as should be understood, seed phrases for other medicalprofessional office employees (e.g., nurses, physician assistants, etc.)may be stored in a storage system (e.g., storage system 22B of FIG. 1)as voice prints and sent to the CB/SIV tool. At step 410, the patient'sseed phrase is stored in a storage system as a voice print and sent theCB/SIV tool. It should be understood that, in embodiments, step 410 maybe an optional step (as indicated by the dashed lines). That is, asexplained above, in embodiments, the CB/SIV tool may determine throughprocess of elimination that a received voice is not the medicalprofessional's voice, and thus, must be the patient's voice.

At step 415, the patient/medical professional speech/dialog interactionis recorded and passed to the CB/SIV tool. At step 420, the CB/SIV toolfilters the speech/dialog into separate streams using the medicalprofessional's voice print (and optionally, the patient's voice print).At step 425, the CB/SIV tool stores the separate streams in a storagesystem (e.g., storage system 22B). At step 430, the CB/SIV tool timestamps the stored separate streams. As should be understood, inembodiments, this step may be an optional step, as indicated by thedashed lines. At step 435, the CB/SIV tool applies business rules (e.g.,speech-to-text conversion) to the stored separated streams to, e.g.,convert the recorded speech into a text format. Additionally, as shouldbe understood, in embodiments, this step may be an optional step, asindicated by the dashed lines.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims, if applicable, areintended to include any structure, material, or act for performing thefunction in combination with other claimed elements as specificallyclaimed. The description of the present invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprincipals of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. Accordingly, while the invention has beendescribed in terms of embodiments, those of skill in the art willrecognize that the invention can be practiced with modifications and inthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructurehaving computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readablestorage medium having programming instructions operable to: receive anaudio stream of a communication between a plurality of participants in aconversation; filter the audio stream of the communication into separateaudio streams, one for each of the plurality of participants, whereineach of the separate audio streams contains portions of thecommunication attributable to a respective participant of the pluralityof participants; identify each of the plurality of participants bycomparing each sampled voice of the audio streams of the participantswith all voice prints in a database and, once each of the participantsare identified in the conversation, and subsequently identifying theparticipant in the conversation by comparing the sampled voice of eachparticipant using a 1 to x comparison, where x is a number ofparticipants within the conversation; and output the separate audiostreams to a storage system.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising an enrollment phase, wherein a seed phrase is received foreach of the plurality of participants and the seed phrase is stored inthe storage system as a voice print.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe voice print for each of the plurality of participants is stored inone of a plurality of discrete databases of the storage system based ona role of each of the plurality of participants.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the filtering the audio stream comprises using at least oneof conversational biometrics, speaker identification and speakerverification.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the filtering the audiostream further comprises: matching the portions of the communicationattributable to the respective participant using a voice print for therespective participant; and assigning the portions of the communicationattributable to the respective participant to the separate audio streamfor the respective participant.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising performing a verification of at least one of the plurality ofparticipants by authenticating a match between a voice sample of atleast one of the plurality of participants and a previously stored voiceprint of the at least one of the plurality of participants.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the receiving the audio stream via at leastone of voice transmission technology, a wired telephone, a wirelesstelephone and a microphone.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprisingperforming additional processing on the separate audio streams includingat least one of time-stamping and conversion from speech to text.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the communication is a call centercommunication and the plurality of participants includes at least twoof: a caller, an agent and an interactive voice response (IVR) system.10. The method of claim 9, further comprising collecting, once, seedphrases for the agent and the IVR system prior to the receiving theaudio stream.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication is amedical professional communication and the plurality of participantsinclude at least a medical professional and a patient.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the filtering the audio stream of the communicationinto separate audio streams comprises using a voice print speakeridentification for all but one of the plurality of participants and aprocess of elimination for the one of the plurality of participants. 13.The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the audio stream of thecommunication into the separate audio streams is performed one of inreal-time and in a batch.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein thefiltering the audio stream of the communication into the separate audiostreams further comprises determining an origin of voice of at least oneof the plurality of participants.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein aservice provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys andsupports the computer infrastructure.
 16. The method of claim 1, whereinsteps of claim 1 are provided by a service provider on a subscription,advertising, and/or fee basis.
 17. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising recording a seed phrase during a single instance, such that aparticipant need not reenroll on a subsequent phone call within a samesystem.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the method is text dependentsuch that a same speech sample of the participant is used duringenrollment and verification.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein storedvoice samples are time stamped and business rules are applied.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, wherein stored voice samples are converted intotext.
 21. A system, comprising: a conversational biometric analysis andspeaker identification-verification (CB/SIV) tool operable to: receivean audio stream of a communication between a plurality of participantsin a conversation; perform an identification process by comparing avoice of each of the participants in the audio stream against a databaseof voice prints and, subsequently in a same conversation, comparing thevoice to only the voices of the identified participants within theconversation; and filter the audio stream of the communication based onthe identification process into separate audio streams and an origin ofvoice of at least one of the plurality of participants, wherein each ofthe separate audio streams contains portions of the communicationattributable to a respective participant of the plurality ofparticipants.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein the CB/SIV tool isfurther operable to output the separate audio streams to a storagesystem.
 23. The system of claim 21, wherein: the identification processcomprises matching the portions of the communication attributable to therespective participant using a voice print for the respectiveparticipant; and the CB/SIV tool is further operable to assign theportions of the communication attributable to the respective participantto the separate audio stream for the respective participant.
 24. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein the CB/SIV tool is further operable toperform a verification of at least one of the plurality of participantsby authenticating a match between a voice sample of at least one of theplurality of participants and a previously stored voice print of the atleast one of the plurality of participants.
 25. The system of claim 21,wherein the communication is a call center communication and the aplurality of participants includes at least two of: a caller, an agentand an interactive voice response (IVR) system.
 26. A method comprising:providing a computer infrastructure operable to: receive an audio streamof a communication between a plurality of participants in aconversation; filter the audio stream of the communication into separateaudio streams, one for each of the plurality of participants, whereineach of the separate audio streams contains portions of thecommunication attributable to a respective participant of the pluralityof participants; identify each of the plurality of participants bycomparing each sampled voice of the audio streams of the participantswith all voice prints in a database and, once each of the participantsare identified in the conversation, and subsequently identifying theparticipant in the conversation by comparing the sampled voice of eachparticipant using a 1 to x comparison, where x is a number ofparticipants within the conversation; and output the separate audiostreams to a storage system.